EA is already one of the most hated entities in gaming and they might’ve just solidified their spot at the top over the weekend.

On Sunday, the official EA Reddit account commented on a user post about the companies new game, Star Wars Battlefront II, and the ’40 hour’ controversy. EA’s comment attempted to justify a move that most of the gaming community sees as a measly cash grab and as a result, their comment became the most down voted comment in the history of Reddit. 

It all started late last week when it was revealed that some of the characters in Battlefront II, including Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, would take upwards of 40 hours to unlock, each. That means you could easily sink hundreds of hours into the game and still not unlock all of it’s characters. Even heroes like Chewbacca and Leia would take most players around 30 hours to unlock.

Adding to the annoyance is the fact that the same in-game currency that’s used to unlock heroes is also used to unlock other items and upgrades. If you choose to buy any of those upgrades, it’ll take you even longer to unlock your favorite characters. 

Of course, there is a way around the grind. For a price, virtually all the characters can be unlocked. But that price comes on top of the $60-80 starting price tag the game already has. To unlock the full contents of the game from the start, user’s could be required to pay nearly $200, as even the $89.99 loot crate bundle won’t unlock every last thing the game has to offer.

EA‘s argument, as stated in their record-breaking Reddit comment, is that they want “to provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes.”

Needless to say, fans aren’t buying it. In fact, 405k Reddit users have downvoted the companies comment (5k more when than when I started writing this article). That makes it the most downvoted comment in the sites history by a factor of 16.

Gamers aren’t happy and it feels as if their collective frustrations have finally come to a head. For years, the gaming community has bemoaned the growing prevalence of loots boxes and the “pay-to-win” gaming style that has been taking over the industry. There have been complaints here and there, but this is the first time the gaming community has truly come together en masse to call bullshit on the matter.

The question is, will this change anything? 

To be fair to EA and DICE, the publisher has said,

“We appreciate the candid feedback, and the passion the community has put forth around the current topics here on Reddit, our forums and across numerous social media outlets.

Our team will continue to make changes and monitor community feedback and update everyone as soon and as often as we can.”

The gaming community is largely taking those words with a grain of salt and only time will tell if EA can remedy this problem and fix what has been one of the biggest PR nightmares in the companies already turbulent history.